photog’s Republic – Part 1

I was having a discussion with a friend recently and we were talking about the Dissident Right.  Now I’m using that term in a restrictive sense.  Casually speaking, anyone who would like to see Mitch McConnell retire is considered a dissident in Washington.  But I guess specifically I mean people for whom the only solution to the present state of the country is setting up separate ethnostates for the various ethnicities and races.  Basically, folks who have made up their minds that, “We all can’t get along.”

And after our discussion it got me thinking about just how big a range there is in the opinions of non-leftists.  If tomorrow the Left magically disappeared what would happen on the Right?  Let’s say that the much-anticipated civil war was avoided by an amicable divorce where each state voted to go left or right.  So, the Left Coast and the Northeast all the way down to DC and the Great Lakes and a few other odds and ends all form the happy People’s Republic of Leftwingistan.  And the folks that didn’t like the way their states voted on both sides were given generous relocation packages and allowed to move to the other side.  So now each side is only one thing.  Then what would our side do?

So here we have the dissident right and they want to be free.  They don’t like these people over here or those people over there.  Let’s be measured and say they’d only be happy in a state where everyone was descended from northern Europeans.  Okay fine.  They are convinced that genetic pedigree will determine the character of the government and the culture of a society.  Then maybe they should have their own experiment.  And let’s say they could all live in Kansas or Nebraska or the Mountain West or pick a place.  Is that what they’d want?  Maybe.  And what kind of laws would they want?  I assume immigration into their state would be among the most important laws because maintaining that ethnic specificity wouldn’t happen automatically.  So possibly this “state” would have to be a separate country.  But my people were from Southern Europe.  From the dissidents’ point of view, we’re just some mutts or other and don’t belong in their thing.  Okay, that’s fine.  That choice is not for me.  I’ll wish them well and wave them goodbye.

So right off the bat I can see that even without the Left we’d still be divided.  Continuing my thought experiment, what about what’s left of the population?  What are we looking at?  We’ve removed the Left and all those who either believe in what they believe in or think they’ll get a better deal with them.  And the Dissident Right have their paradise.  That leaves us with either the people who believe in the American proposition or who know that life in Leftwingistan will turn into a chaotic hell and are going along with us for the ride.  The people making up this third group are a pretty motley crew.  But let’s see what they could do to make their “Union more perfect.”

Let’s assume that what’s left is in disarray.  The whole thing is a bit of a dumpster fire and a solution is needed to re-establish this republic.  In the past, in places like Athens or Sparta, when the state was in disarray and they needed to fix it, they’d go to a “Sage.”  A Lycurgus or Solon would step in and write new laws that could re-found the state and balance out the inequities and fix the problems.  There would usually be a debt forgiveness and a tax holiday to start things off on a happy note.  But the new foundation tried to learn from the lessons of the past and correct them.  And when the Athenian Democracy crashed and burned at the end of the Peloponnesian War Plato wrote a thought experiment about founding a new state in his dialog “The Republic.”  And because of who Plato was, needless to say, this was a pretty abysmal roadmap for setting up a state from a practical point of view.  Really effective philosopher-kings have always been in very short supply when you need them.

But, be that as it may, I will attempt to soldier on and take a swat at it.  I, photog will lay down the foundation for a new nation that I will provisionally call “Goodenoughia.”  A better name may occur to me later.  And this is how the game will be played.  Anyone can call me out in the comments section where it seems I’m going wrong and I’ll give him equal time by adding those comments to the post as updates.  Hopefully by the end of the exercise we will have come up with a rebooted America that only has to be put into effect by following our brilliant roadmap.  Of course, when Plato attempted to have the tyrant, Dionysius II of Syracuse apply his Republic as a blueprint for his rule, I believe Plato almost got his head chopped off.  But those were less enlightened times and I’m sure I will be treated in a more humane way today because of …, reasons.  So here we go.  Oh boy!

Update:

TomD

“Assuming that Goodenoughia will have democratic DNA be it representative or direct, I think that voter status should be limited and prized with significant requirements for entry.

Problem being that the bulk of the people would tend to think that the required characteristics for voter status should whatever characteristics that they themselves possess.”

photog

Tom, I agree with both those statements.  I think a minor change would be to increase the age to 25.  Most eighteen-year-olds lack maturity when it comes to politics.  I’d also say remove women from the franchise.  Now that will cause an explosion.

War Pig

Follow Heinlein in Starship Troopers.

Glenn W

I’m looking forward to reading your approach. Who knows, you might be the next Solon!

Everyone seems to be throwing ideas around about how to fix our broken society. I suppose there is a kind of broad agreement on the dissident right that any system that involves participation in government by the governed is a bad idea. I personally don’t like the idea of being changed from a citizen to a subject.

On the Christian side of things we had The Benedict Option a few years ago. I read it and was completely underwhelmed.Now there is The Boniface Option which I have no intention of reading. I’m going to wait until someone publishes the John Locke Option before buying another one of those books. I think I’m going to be waiting a long time.

photog

I have to admit I’m having fun writing my edicts.  It feels good to be king (or Solon as the case may be).  Of course I’m not addressing how we get to the bust up of this unhappy disunion but I’ll let this thought experiment play out first.